Blade Runner 2049 w/ guest Max Clark (LOST IN THE MOVIES #32)

Thirty years after the original Blade Runner takes place (even longer - thirty-five - since the 1982 film came out), Blade Runner 2049 imaginatively riffs on a classic. Rich subjects to discuss include how common replicants (manufactured humans, organic robots essentially) have become in the world of this movie, the nature of replicants' emotions, and particularly whether or not Joi (an artificial-intelligence "app" one further step removed from the fully human characters) has any real, independent sense of consciousness. Continuing the public Denis Villeneuve sci-fi miniseries begun last week with my brand-new discussion of Arrival, this was actually one of the earliest episodes I ever recorded for patrons, just months after the film's release. It's also one of my rare conversations with another commentator; in August I released another, on Eyes Wide Shut with Andrew Cook, and like that one, this has actually already been shared publicly on YouTube (in late 2018). However, I wanted to make a home for it in my regular podcast stream. The timing is good as I'll be be discussing Villeneuve's new film, Dune, next week (it hits theaters tomorrow) - possibly with Max once again.

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Arrival (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #31 - bonus)

Re-visiting this film from the mid-teens (which now feels like a distinct era), I was fascinated by the ways it played differently for me. On first viewing, I did not know the big twist nor much about it except the general idea - this time the experience was different (much like for the central character herself). Arrival's alien encounter, a misty, moody dive into Denis Villeneuve's atmospheric aesthetic, also serves as a prelude to the next couple weeks of podcasts - consider this a miniseries within the third season, as I explore the Canadian director's sci-fi works, culminating in the first new release I've covered (or at least offered a proper review of, aside from my quickie Patreon capsules) in years. Next week and the week after these discussions will take the form of conversations with Max Clark (the Blade Runner 2049 episode is from several years ago and has already been released publicly on YouTube, if you want to jump right to it). This time, however, I'm on my own, recording a film response directly to my public podcast feed (rather than recycling a Patreon review from the past) for the very first time.

In this episode I ask why the film's human interest plays more compellingly than it does in other blockbusters, briefly tease out connections to another Canadian classic about lost children (The Sweet Hereafter), and muse on how Arrival suits its own zeitgeist just as the short story it's based upon may reflect its own. Please let me know what you made of this movie in the comments below, and I'll share these thoughts in an upcoming episode.

Subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

(and most places podcasts are found)

LINKS

My Patreon episode 4: Interstellar & The Prestige

My interviews with Martha Nochimson, author of The Passion of David Lynch, David Lynch Swerves & Television Rewired:

Opening the Door (written conversation from 2014 after the first two books)

Freedom from Formula (audio conversation from 2019 after the third book)

My review of The Magnificent Ambersons

Patreon update #52: FREE Blade Runner 2049 conversation w/ Max Clark plus preview of Civil War Cinepoem

This is my last update of the year, and only the second that doesn't feature a new podcast episode. From now on, updates will continue on a weekly basis but podcasts will not (although when they do appear they will be consistently jam-packed with material).

This entry includes a look back at 2018 and a sneak peek of 2019. I had three guests on the show and two of those episodes have been made partially and entirely public on YouTube. Now it's time to present the first, and as yet patron-only, conversation, a great-in-depth discussion with friend of the show Max Clark on Blade Runner 2049, the compelling sequel to the beloved 1982 sci-fi classic. If you're a patron who enjoyed this episode before, feel free to share it with others; and if you're not a patron who's curious what you missed, jump right in!

The sneak peek for the coming year is my first video preview since January: a minute from an upcoming resumption of my long-stalled Cinepoem series, featuring two excerpts from two Civil War poems (one by Walt Whitman, the other by Herman Melville) intersecting with a variety of impressionistic film clips. I was really excited to return to this form, and hopefully you like this glimpse as well.

Civil War Cinepoem video clip (last "See the Future" 2nd tier reward - December Preview #2

Cross-posting the Blade Runner 2049 public upload

See you in 2019.

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